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I have to admit I'm a tad disappointed by the response, or lack thereof, to the news that I've started my own PvP Corporation. Not that I expected tons of people knocking down my door to get in, but I also expected more response than I've gotten thus far. What am I doing wrong?

To be fair, we did have a group of possible recruits decide to go another direction recently, so that came as a disappointment. And we have had some activity, but no where near enough.

So I ask you my intelligent reader, what would it take to get you to join Lucifer's Hammer? Or better yet, why haven't you? I understand that for many of you the idea holds no merit right now, you are in a Corp you like, or you aren't interested in fighting, but we all understand that. Do I need to offer free booze? Free women? Because those things can be arraigned.

I've heard that many people consider Syndicate to be the problem. I don't understand this. If by problem you mean lots of fighting, no Sov Wars and plenty of action... then I suppose you are right. Also, and here you have to believe me, Syndicate is only the birthing ground for much bigger plans. A place to build our strength before we move on to somewhere else.

I also understand that we are not "shiny" yet, I guess some people need to join things that are already good. I don't get that but I can admit it might be something that people do. I've never understood the need to join a Corporation that is already well known for something, at least in the maturity level we are talking about. Sure, early on in your career I get it. Isn't there a desire in Eve to build something of your own? Perhaps I am the one being naive.

I can tell you this much. We have fights, good fights, to be had almost all the time. We are building something that won't be in Syndicate forever. And if you don't like fighting then we do have other Corporations in the Alliance.

This edition of Friday Fights is a little different than the usual 1v1 discussion. Right now we are often facing a challenge in the type of gang that some of our evil neighbors are running thru our system. These gangs tend to be made up of the normal ships, canes, vagas, drakes, ares, the usual usual and nothing special except for the occasional Cynabal or something. But they also primarily use Falcons. Sometimes one, sometimes more, and this has caused some consternation and thought amongst the general populace. So I thought it might be worthy of some further exploration.

What do you do about small gangs with Falcon support? ECM is nasty, we all know this, so how do you counter the ECM of the Falcon? A ship capable of taking 1-6 of your ships effectively off the field for certain periods of time? Well the answer is simple, it ain't easy.

There are several strategies for countering the Falcon led gang. Let's look at each of them and the pros and cons of each.

1. Fight Fire with Fire

Bring your own Falcons. Certainly the most effective counter is the same counter, even better if you can field more Falcons than the enemy! The trick here in a 1v1 situation is the pilots themselves and their skill with not only ECM but locking speeds, support skills and the fit of their Falcons. In a 1v1 situation it'll all come down to who gets lock first and how long can they maintain their jam of the other guys Falcon. Long enough for the other pilots to kill it and remove it from the field? YOu better hope so, because no matter how good your Falcon pilot might be, no jam lasts forever.

Result: Depends on the field of play as always, but this is the most effective counter to the enemy Falcon.

2. Light the Fuse!

Here's something you might not know, Falcons can't jam Bombs! Falcons are notoriously thin on tank, so lob a couple of bombs at them from your Stealthy cloaked bombers and explode them into a billion bits. This is harder to do than it sounds of course, in practice the best place for this tactic is on a gate. As I discovered the other day, the Falcon pilot is likely to just jump thru and avoid the perfectly placed bomb you are sending him. Of course, you could have a nice surprise waiting for him on the other side!

Result: Tough to set up, but very effective when done right. Having support on the other side of the gate is crucial if it can be done.

3. Bait and Switch

This one I used effectively in Providence last year on a Falcon led gang that was giving us some trouble. The key here is timing and having the right field, but it works well. The point is to do exactly what the Falcon wants you to do, engage so that he can jam you while his buddies jump into system and rape you. The thing is, the Falcon is falling into your tarp! What he doesn't know is that you have one or two stealth bombers cloaked off the gate. These SB have very specific instructions, they are not to engage the Falcon until the Falcon has everyone locked up and jammed. When the FC says go the SB un-cloak, lock the Falcon and one-shot it with torps. Boom!

Result: If you can set it up it works every time. Multiple Falcons just mean more of everything. The only real trick is the limited range of torps, so be aware of that. General I like to put the SB right on top of the gate about 4,500 above it. No one ever expects them to be there.

4. Others

Just about any other combination of ships, hot-drops, cyno bushwackery, you name it can work. The question always comes down to what do you have available, how much and how quickly can you react? Sniper BS work to some degree (if anyone flew those anymore) because they are outside the jam range of the Falcon. The trick there is to maintain point on something that needs to be de-cloaked, pointed and held all while it doesn't want to be. Which is why that option didn't make my top 3 above.

The key element to killing Falcons in my opinion is this, move fast and do it with overwhelming brutality. You may have to do it again and again, but remember this... the Falcon pilot doesn't want to die. Even if you don't kill him, give him more to think about, make him feel out of his element, watching for those hidden cloaked ships, or watching for bombs on the gates, the more he is doubting things the less effective he'll be.

So what tactics have worked for you in countering the menace of the Falcon?

It had to happen sooner or later I suppose. Today I lost my first Dramiel.

How did this finally happen? As you know I am not afraid of sharing, so here is the tale of how I finally lost a Dramiel in combat.

Only a few of us were left on the Gate when Miss Dante was reported in the next door system. I was, of course, in my Dramiel. Neon was in his Deimos and LJB was in a Falcon. We had a bigger gang earlier but most of them had left by this time. JEK was getting into a Cane, but he hadn't arrived yet. I burned towards the Gate and jumped through. The Thrasher was on Gate and I engaged, pointed and started shooting. The Thrasher burned towards the Gate and jumped through.

So I had aggression, LJB had come in and he was off gate and there was very little chance the Deimos would catch anything. Not due to skill or anything, but the ship is a short-range beast, not a tackle.

Once aggro was over I jumped thru and warped off to the next gate. I landed in the drag bubble, but burned straight for the Gate. I knew this 2007 DarkSide pilot wasn't going to be dumb enough to land in the drag. Sure enough, Thrasher landed on the Gate. I told the gang to meet me in the next system and I jumped after the Thrasher.

So far, up to this point, everything was going perfectly. With Falcon and Deimos support the Thrasher was a goner. And so those that rely on pre-supposition are doomed toward frustration, because we all know nothing ever goes as planned.

Meanwhile I grab the Thrasher and start point, orbit, shoot, drop off the MWD and switch to the AB. I'm doing good damage but so is the Thrasher. I figure it's AC fitted, cause it is hitting me pretty good. Although once the AB catches up the damage slows down. We dance.

Then I hear the Falcon warped to the wrong gate. An overview bug. We've been having a lot of those lately. The Deimos got caught in the drag and is burning and the Cane is not at the gate yet. I decide to overheat my guns and discover that the overview bug has struck me as well. My crosshairs won't go away! My guns, my scram and my AB are active, but I can't get the damn crosshairs to disappear so I can overheat.

At this point I decide to stay and fight. I could have escaped. I had already launched my ECM drones and I wasn't being pointed, but even if I was I could have easily burned off. I don't like to do that. So I stayed and fought it out. It was close, extremely close. The Thrasher and I raced each other thru the levels of our defense, I got it thru shields and then thru armor before my shield tank finally broke. This was the moment of truth however, could I burn thru its structure before my non-existent armor and structure gave way?

Despite bringing the Thrasher down to about 20% structure, I obviously wasn't successful.

The Falcon, Deimos and Cane arrived and my pod was able to escape. Good fight in local. And my heart started beating once more.

Yes I lost a very expensive ship. I don't like that part. But this is exactly why I play Eve, to get into good fights against good pilots. This one I lost. I'll win others.

I opened the portrait file yesterday to resize it for use on the Alliance forums and paused. I thought, "Huh, wonder what RJ would look like with a cool scar?"

By the time I was done I had tried putting those weird Caldari things on his face (which look kinda silly now btw), replaced his scuba shirt with a stylish one from UnderArmor (TM), made his eyes even more icy blue and toned down his hair just a tad.

CCP gave us a chance to go back and re-tweak our avatars and they should be thanked for that. But I went back and really didn't find anything I wanted to change. I did discover just how difficult it was to get RJ into that exact pose in the first place, being totally frustrated at trying to get him back into it. So, in the end, I decided to let him stand as is. I'd already gotten used to the new look.

I described it as a cross between Doc Savage and Dr. Bentin Quest, which is just about where I wanted him. Adventurer, Soldier, Scientist (Come on they sorta have to be with all that knowledge forced into their heads!).

Rixx has come a long way since his original portrait.

Although, when I look back on it now (Even though I spent all of five seconds on it, being so anxious to play internet spaceships!) the original Rixx has stood the test of time. Despite the horrible yellow, yuck.

That yellow version didn't last long. I quickly realized that any universe were I was expected to fly a spaceship in and chase other people down to explode was a universe I would probably be spending a lot of time in. And one tries to look ones best.

Why am I posting about this? I dunno. I thought the scar was cool and thought I'd share the subtle changes to the original new avatar which you can see HERE.

On another angle. It is odd how attached we get to these pictures isn't it? These images have come to be us in-game, our projections of ourselves in many ways.

It is the inevitable consequence of open conflict. A by-product of Player vs Player warfare and the system of conflagration under which the PvP'er plays the game. Eventually, somewhere, somehow, someone is gonna get under your skin. Like an itch you can't get rid of, this person keeps showing up in local, outside your station, cloaked up somewhere, just missing you and you just missing him. He is annoying, good at his job, and god damn well... annoying. Did I mention that already?

He is, for lack of a better term, your rival.

He could be one person, two people or an entire Corporation of people. At some level I suppose he could be an entire Alliance. But mostly, because we are all individual pilots, it comes down to a single name. The same name in local that makes your fire burn, your face gets hot and you race to un-dock, or get out of the POS, or jump in, or whatever it might take to take them down.

But rivals are not people that go down easy. Those are the sheeple, the meat shields, the fodder... no rivals are much more resilient than that. Like some kind of mad Energizer Bunny, they just keep going and going.

I've had my share of rivals. Depending on the space I'm living in at the time, but eventually you start to know the names of those that truly annoy you. And then, after a time, the same names keep popping up, keep killing your scouts, or blowing up your carebears, and then things get ratcheted up a notch. Then we're talking rivals.

Heck, they probably don't feel the same way about you. But that doesn't matter, all that matters in this universe is how you feel about them. I've got one of those sweaty ball suckers right now that is annoying the Hell out of me. And while I've kilt some of his comrades, I haven't gotten a chance to kill him yet. Nor has he killed me yet either. But all the same I wish him nothing less than seventh level of Hell tortures of the eternal soul. Or a pod death or two.

I know he doesn't feel the same way about me and I don't care. My single purpose is to hunt him down and destroy him, annoy him, pod him to Empire a few dozen times and eventually never see his name in local again.

Because this is what we do to our rivals isn't it? We must destroy them, crush them or be destroyed by them. Or something else, although I wouldn't know what that was. A long time ago I was forced to withdraw from a rival situation and that was a bitter pill to swallow. Since then I haven't repeated that ugly scenario. And this time will be no different.

He might not know it yet, but he will be exploded. Multiple times. At the very least he will be run off, never to pop up in my local again.

Until the next rival comes along and the process is repeated. Fun huh?

> We need a button that we can press during Avatar creation that STOPS THEM FROM MOVING AND BLINKING!! Even just for a couple of seconds, sheesh. All that blinking and moving is cool until you try to grab something and they keep moving. So fix that please.

> Recruiting is going well. I'd forgotten how much I don't enjoy some aspects of the process. I do enjoy meeting new players when they are mature and have at least a modicum of humanity. I don't enjoy the people that think extremely highly of themselves, or say they want to pew pew but then say they won't come to Syndicate because there is too much pew pew. lol. Look guys, thanks and all but I am really only looking for a solid handful of pilots, so no biggie. Either you get it or you don't. I want the people who get it. I want to shoot the rest of you.

Oh, and to answer one question. The Manifesto doesn't mean you have to "be" that person right this minute, it means you want more than anything to "be" that person. Maybe you just never had the chance before.

> To all those that have sent me emails lately in regards to commissions, I will be getting back to you shortly. Sorry about the delay, but between starting a new Corp, real life insanity, snow storms and monkeys (don't ask) I've fallen off the wagon a bit. But never fear.

> I bought a new Vagabond this morning and got it fitted up. Bantering back and forth with Logan yesterday convinced me that I should give the ship another chance. I do like the idea of it and perhaps I judged it too harshly based on a few bad experiences.

After spending an entire day in Empire, Rixx arrived back in A-S ready for some action. His decision to start Lucifer's Hammer back up again was one he didn't regret, it only meant that more of his time lately had been given to administration duties than he liked. But the Offices in Empire would give them a jumping off point and were vital to the success of not only the Corp, but to the Alliance at large.

Already his sub-space Comm channels were lighting up, which was good. He'd posted the Manifesto in several key stations while he was in Empire. So far so good. He noticed the Alliance had been busy the day before, some good kills posted on the Lounge Killboard. It was time to get into something and make something happen.

An Alliance gang was already up and running, but it was a little light on Damage Dealers, so he decided to take out his Hurricane to start with. It'd been awhile since he'd flown the Minmatar contraption, and despite its obvious flaws, he loved the bucket of bolts. It was still early and the gang was starting out slow, but that would change as more and more pilots woke up and joined the party. He parked his Cane and waited. Mostly answering calls and dealing with potential recruits, Empire logistics and the other crap that needed dealt with. Slowly the gang grew as more and more ships joined up, it wouldn't be long before they'd be ready.

The gang was turning out nice and as Fleet Commander he started organizing things, asking people to re-ship if needed and setting up the bubbles. They managed to grab a few ships already and it was looking to be a good day, even this early. Sometimes you just get a sense for these things. He decided to re-ship into something a bit more fun and returned to station to change over to his Cynabal. He didn't fly it often for various reasons, but he loved the ship. Especially since the modifications he'd made to the interior, these faction beasts were notoriously sparse and basic inside. So he'd ripped out the cabins and completely re-made them to almost Amarrian standards of luxury. He smiled as he closed down the pod hatch, like it mattered inside your pod! His smile turned to a laugh, hell, you only live once.

This is when the shit hit the fan. Several larger fleets moved through the region and, as always, you had to stay on your toes to keep track. The Cynabal didn't last long, it wasn't destroyed, only replaced with the Sabre. The day was looking like a chase and catch day, and the Sabre was much more useful in those situations. It wasn't long before that theory was put to the test. Several smaller ships entered local and he warped the gang to their stations. With two Falcons and a nice assortment of other ships, they could take on just about anything. His Comm channel blinked and it was Angor asking if he could borrow his Sleipnir. The Alliance channel blinked and it was LJB asking him if he could please ask Angor not to yell at his pilots. Rixx laughed, only two days back in a Corp with Angor and already the pot was being stirred. He laughed so hard he started shooting the Gate by mistake.

Just then a Neutral jumped into local and Rixx jumped ahead into the next system. It was a Tengu and his bubble went up, he activated his microwarpdrive but held his foot down on the accelerator for now. The enemy Tengu popped up towards the edge of the bubble and cloaked up. Even before that though Rixx had started burning towards him, 15 kilometers isn't far and he kept his eyes on that spot in space were the Tengu had been. Sure enough, even as several fleet members started saying he got away, the Sabre de-cloaked the Tech Three cruiser and Rixx started up his scram, guns and everything else he had. Boom! Catching, de-cloaking and then killing an enemy Tengu is always just about the most fun you can have he thought. Even with Angor flying his Command Ship in fleet.

The rest of the day saw even more kills and very, very few losses. In fact, only one ship was lost. He felt bad about the Vagabond, but that was a close call engagement anyway and only one loss was a win. Now when he returned to station he could post his kills under a new board in the Lounge, a board with the Lucifer's Hammer crest on it. It was already starting to fill up. Nah, he didn't regret his decision a single iota.

"A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions, often political in nature."

I am looking for 30 pilots. Thirty experienced, skilled, active pilots who are interested in constant fighting, small gang warfare, and in becoming the Soldier Elite of the Black-Mark Alliance.

I am looking for 30 men. Men of honor who prefer to be un-docked when they are in space and not sitting around spinning. Men who fly towards the enemy and not away from them.

I am looking for 30 minds. Thirty pilots who don't need to have their butts wiped by their leader. Who understand how to function alone, in a small gang or in a large fleet. I want smart, intelligent pilots who know game mechanics like the back of their hand.

I am the CEO of Lucifer's Hammer and I am looking for pilots to forge a sword together. To build a tight knit group of killers to help defend and build a new Alliance in lawless space. This will not be your Father's Corp. I am not here to hold hands and sing songs. We will fight and die and kill. We will drink heavily in station the few times we are in station. We are NOT looking forward to Incarna, because we cannot understand why anyone in their right mind would want to be in station!

If the above sounds like I was talking to you then join LUCRH HAMMER TIME channel or send me an Eve Mail in-game.

Specifically I am ONLY looking for active players in both the EU and US TZ with more than 20m skillpoints. The Black-Mark Alliance is growing daily and is active in both timezones. We have logistics support, forums, killboards, teamspeak servers the whole ball of wax.

And you'll be written about on Eveoganda! Plus have pretty cool graphics.

Recruitment is OPEN to 30-40 pilots and then it will close. After that we will only add pilots when a slot becomes open. We are not looking to become the biggest, only the best.

After two plus years of playing EVE, one plus year of writing in EVEOGANDA, one plus year of being in the greatest Corporation in the game, leading fleets of two to two-hundred, fighting the Sov Wars in multiple regions of lawless zero space, starting a new Alliance and everything else that I've managed to achieve in the game... what next?

Well I've decided. Starting tomorrow I will be re-assuming control of LUCIFER'S HAMMER as CEO, joining Black-Mark and continuing to fight the battle of making the Alliance the best in all of New Eden. My long-time compatriot, fellow wanderer and friend Angor Mau will be returning after his long stint as a Pirate and will be assuming his role as Deputy CEO. It looks like we'll be starting off with about 12 pilots and will be looking to add more in the coming weeks.

WE ARE RECRUITING! But we won't be looking for just anyone. Membership will be kept small and strong. Only 20+ million skill point pilots with a positive killboard need apply. Our in-game channel is LUCRH HAMMER TIME and I encourage anyone looking for a tight knit group of dedicated killers to talk to me in-game.

We will be part of the Black-Mark Alliance, with Alliance Forums, dedicated TeamSpeak server and infra-structure to support the Corporation and Alliance. We will be growing and fighting in Syndicate with more pew pew available than you could ask for. We are increasingly becoming blue to our neighbors in the North, while maintaining our border standings with the Reds and Neutrals in the South. This is the land of opportunity my friends.

This is your chance. Once LUCRH reaches our goal, recruitment will be closed. We want to keep this Corporation small, tight and deadly.

I'm sure I'll be writing more about this in the coming days. I'm excited about the future. I think we can build something special not only in Lucifer's Hammer, but in the Alliance as well.

A year ago I finally decided to start writing an Eve related blog and talk about my experiences in-game and the fan art that I was doing at the time. I couldn't have possibly imagined at the time the response I would get from the Eve community, the hundreds of fellow players I would meet and the opportunities that would present themselves through this blog magazine thingie that I've been doing since January last year.

I started with the promise to myself that I would write in the blog every day that I played Eve and I am happy to report (360 posts later!) that I have kept to that promise. Sometimes more than one for every day I played Eve.

I also promised myself that I wouldn't keep track of the traffic to the blog, since I had no desire to know what was 'popular' or not. Personally I kept that promise, but sadly (as I only discovered recently) Blogger didn't. Apparently at some point over the Summer, Blogger incorporated a statistic feature into the software. Whatever, I don't really have anything to compare the numbers to, nor do I care. I do find it interesting what posts are popular, that is an interesting bit of human psychology on its own.

In the last year I have completed 78 projects for fellow Eve players, bloggers, corporations and Alliances. Those 78 projects represent hundreds of individual pieces of art, logos and other materials (even one Tattoo!). I've had a blast helping to provide this work, meeting new people and generally making the Eve community a tad better looking. LOL.

It would be remiss of me not to give a shout-out to CrazyKinux and thank him for being quick to accept the blog into the Eve Blog Pack. I suspect that had more to do with openings that were available at the time and not some strangely out-of-place sense that he had about me, but I can't be sure. Either way, his generosity went a long way into helping Eveoganda find an audience and for that he will forever have my appreciation.

I would also like to thank each of my fellow Eve Bloggers. You are all an inspiration and a source for ideas to steal from, each and every day. Blogging can often be hard work, and lonely, but having such a great community to live amongst is truly an honor. There are those of you that have been doing this a lot longer than I have and you have my sincere respect. I have no way of knowing how much longer I will be writing, but you've blazed the path forward already.

And to all the commenters, thank you. I've said before that I have the most intelligent group of commenters within the Eve community, and while that is a bit of a placation, I am sincere when I say I appreciate each and every comment. You often see things differently, change my opinion totally, or help show me the error of my ways. I certainly don't know everything and you have never been afraid to point that out. Thanks.

I thought I would take a moment and select my ten favorite moments from the last year. These are not the most popular posts, or the ones I got the most comments on, or even the most important (if any can be said to meet that criteria), but simply the ten that I think represent certain milestones along the way. My newer readers may have missed them and my longer-termed members may appreciate the memory.

In no particular order, my ten favorite moments from the last year.

A Question of Loyalty (Part One, Part Two, Part Three and Part Four )This series of posts pretty much sums up my history in Eve, at least up until the last one was written, very nicely. While I have been around the block a few times, it hasn't been without common thread and mission.

True Sansha: Eve FictionThe only short story fiction I've written in the pages of Eveoganda. This one was done as part of a contest CCP was having I believe. Or not, can't remember. Either way I liked the way it turned out and wish I had more time to write more of these.

Idiot's Guide (Flying in Zero Space, Bookmarks, Bombing)While I don't pretend to be an expert on anything, these guides are useful layman's guides to getting around certain aspects of Eve. While most guides tend toward the technical, I always try to write the way I play, casual.

I Hate CVA (Eveotorial: CVA, CVA, and others you can search out yourselves.)It's only a game, but nothing would make me happier than watching a certain Alliance failscade. They ask for it and it will happen eventually. So I suppose I have to keep writing at least that long.

Making Fun of CCP (Re: CCP Servers, Re: CCP Servers Again)I don't even remember exactly what happened, but CCP's servers went down for a day or so and I decided it was time to tell the untold story about what must have happened. Honestly I think it's some of the most fun I've had and these two posts are some of the funniest I've written.

Please QuitBack in August it seemed like everyone was emo-rage quitting Eve. The CSM was in turmoil, CCP wasn't listening and a bunch of people just left. I decided I'd had enough and it was time to call them on it. I've had my fair share of rants and rages in the last year, but this was my favorite.

Noob WonderI just think it captures the spirit of Eve and says things I think bear repeating. I personally read it every so often when I feel like I've lost my way.

Gooder Eve (Search for them, or click the link at the top of the page)This is a whole series of articles on ways to make Eve more gooder. Some are serious, some are silly, but they are all intended to get people talking. One of them was even picked up by EON a few issues back. These are some of my most popular posts and also some of my personal favorites.

The Pod Captain DebateThe original post had over 85 comments! Sadly they were all lost when I switched comment systems, but the re-post still generated some comments. This is probably the one post I've written that got more attention than any other. Everyone has their own ideas about what goes on inside our ships.

Being A Hero PilotThis post sums up Rixx more than any other and encapsulates his attitude about flying his ships. If you want to know what makes Rixx tick, read this post. It's one of my all time favorites.

Certainly creating and running the Death Race last year was probably the highlight of the year for me as well, but that was an in-game event and not exclusively a Eveoganda thing.

I'm looking forward to another year. Hanging out with all of you every day, fighting in spaceships, getting annoyed at CCP, wondering who keeps trying to hack my account, putting up with getting dc'd, lag, Gate camps, low-sec whining, pirates, CVA, and all the other stuff that goes into making Eve the greatest thing since they put a pocket on a shirt.

(Thanks to Manasi for the inspiration for this rant. His rant is good and I suggest you read it.)

There seems to be a slight trend lately that I've noticed around the neighborhood, a trend that seems to suggest CCP is adding more and more PvE content (which they are) and that this is somehow a bad thing that threatens to destroy our precious EVE.

To that suggestion I say PFFT! (Which is my way of spelling the sound of a very large raspberry issued with some degree of associated spittle being flung forward from my puckered lips.) In fact, I say add even more PvE to the game. Bring it on.

Let me back up a minute and re-state the obvious for my long time readers and something the new guys might not know, I don't PvE. Oh sure rarely I might wander out and shoot rats, mostly if they happen to be on a Gate, or I might even get really bored and run a Mission or two, but I seriously never really do it. I play EVE to fight other players and that is pretty much it. When I am not fighting I am doing things that need done so that I can fight later, or better.

But I have nothing against PvE. I even understand why people like it. We all say this all the time, the great thing about EVE is the wonderful variety of ways in which an individual can play the game. In fact, there is no right or wrong way to play EVE. I have my way, other people have theirs. Sweet ain't it.

I even understand why CCP is adding more PvE content to the game. They're doing it because people like it. Other people that aren't me certainly, but there are people. And those people are important to CCP and to the future of this game we enjoy. The more people that play EVE the more likely it'll be around long enough for me to continue enjoying shooting other players! Many of whom are enjoying PvE content.

I know it might be difficult for the hard-core EVE player to understand this, but not everyone in the world has the time, the energy, or the dedication to play this game the way we do. In fact, the vast majority of potential players don't. The VAST majority. These players, the casual EVE player if you will, wants to get on and shoot things make some iskies and log off. That's the reality. PvE allows them the chance to do that. And have fun doing it. So they come back. So they pay for next month. And hopefully the month after that.

Their dollar is just as valuable as yours.

So I say keep adding more content CCP. And keep adding more players. Expand this Universe and keep growing the sandbox. The more targets us PvP players have the better.

The EVE Universe will continue to expand, the foundations are being laid right now. Incarna will be another big step towards that expansion. To me the goal seems as obvious as the hair on Rixx's head. To open the universe to different kinds of players, to grow not only the amount of players but the types of activities those players can engage in. Eventually, even the types of platforms on which they can engage in those activities. If I was giving business advice to CCP that would be one of the most important elements of that advice, expand or die.

And I am NOT saying everything is wonderful and hunky-dory in PvP land and that nothing is in need of serious effort on CCP's part. They screw up enough as it is. This game isn't perfect by any stretch and there are areas that need some serious love and attention, like Sov Mechanics for example. But all in all I don't see that more PvE content is an issue.

Not 100% sure this is the final version of the new Rixx Javix, but right now it is the result of about two hours of work. Being completely unable to capture the feeling of the old avatar, couldn't even come close really, I decided to go a slightly different direction. I wanted something that reminded me of an Alex Ross painting of Rixx Javix, another artists interpretation if you will. I think I succeeded in capturing a certain Golden Age heroic quality, a certain mad Captain Nemo metrasexual adventurer thing that I kinda like. Sadly the new generator doesn't seem to like gray hair very much, so I tended more towards white than I would have preferred.

What do you think of the new Rixx? And how have your own adventures in avatar creation fared so far?

Character Avatars! Can't wait to dig into these and see how the new Rixx comes to life! I created some new alts this week to test the new features out on, since normally Rixx doesn't have alts on his account. (I still haven't figured out a good reason to have them.) I also have Ana to deal with and her alts, she does have a few good reasons to have some.

New Nav Bar! I heard we are getting a new nav bar thingie and it sounds kind of kewl. (Hmm, didn't see this mentioned in the update list, did I miss it?)

Incursions? Ok maybe, I really doubt these will impact my life much in-game, but they might. Either way I think they sound good and the improved AI of rats should be interesting.

Ummm. We might be getting better explosions? They're doing something or other to Eve Gate? Y'know, I really should pay more attention. 6.7% downloaded... ok I have time to check out the updates link.

Oh yeah, new combat key commands and whatnots. More stuff to learn!

Speaking of new stuff to learn, new contracts stuff to learn! WoOt. (And yes, this is tinged with slight sarcasm. Slight.)

God-Rays? Ok, this I have to see.

Eve Gate Voice. Bleh. We have a dedicated T3 server. Although I can see instances where having an Eve Voice client that actually works will be good. Not poo-pooing this.

Oh my, I can now run the game in windowed mode from the ESC menu! That's awesome.

And lots of other stuff that I need more time to actually read. Looks like some changes to the way modules are grouped might take some looking into. And I noticed something about ships landing further away from Starbases when cyno'd in... this might be bad.

Grrr. 21.3%! C'mon, download already. How many more t2/t3 lines do I need?!? lol.

I'm excited. Heck, if it was JUST the new avatar creator I'd be excited.

Alright, I'm going to go watch the bar fill in and re-read the patch notes. Gotta study, this is Eve!!

Hmm, didn't see anything about being able to share bookmarks? I was kind of hoping for this one, it sounded like a good idea. Wonder where I heard that one?

Also, looks like we have a "grace-period" before our new avatars get locked down. Whew. This should help make things a little less stressful around the Javix house today.

What are you excited about?

PS: Ok that sucked. First download failed during patch because it was corrupted apparently. So here we go again. Hopefully the second time is the charm.

PPS: Ok that sucks even harder. Second download also failed. Still no new patch. :( Guess I'll go and try the manual download now, this happened with Dominion when the auto-patch failed numerous times.

Ok so the Mac patch isn't working. Or is it? The forums, which yes I did just read (sigh) are no help at all. So I am downloading the manual patch and will try that. This will either work fine, completely destroy my copy of Eve and force me to re-install the whole thing (like Dominion!) or work but be super buggy. Depends on who you listen to in the Forums.

I don't enjoy the forums and try to stay away from them as much as possible. I find them incredibly boring and useless to be honest. All I know is this, when I logged into the game this morning it said an update was available. I tried using that update twice (a process that has worked fine the previous three updates) and it failed to work. Then I went looking for the manual patch and started downloading it from the Eve provided link that said it was ready to download. It is now about halfway thru that process.

This all started 4 hours ago. And counting.

UPDATE: Success! (Sorry I didn't report that sooner, but I've been playing with the character generator thing.) The manual download worked and Eve was successfully patched. In total it took 5.5 hours from start to finish. Certainly not the worst expansion experience (Dominion!) and not the easiest either (Tyrannis!) but not horrible or anything. More later.

He wanted to spit on the names in his log book, but he restrained himself. The names were the same. The Corporation was the same. Hell their tactics were the same. Ever since Black-Mark first moved into the system and pushed DT out the door, they'd been coming around. Rixx knew he didn't have the proper assets at first, he knew that his responsibility as Fleet Commander was to be smart, bide his time and wait patiently while the Alliance moved more and more assets into system. He knew that. That knowledge didn't make him feel any better.

He glanced up at the Manifest and smiled slightly, 14 active pilots in system. Now that was more like it. He punched the orders into his Comm-Link and grabbed his gear. It was time to get nasty and turn the tables on the bastards.

His first thought was to form up a armored heavy assault gang. If they could muster the right combination of ships, they might just have enough to do it. He fired up his Zealot and undocked, already barking orders into the proper comm channels. He was shorter and gruffer than usual, this was serious business. He laughed and glanced at his Drake as the Zealot slid out of the hanger and plopped into space. Already the fleet was forming up nicely outside. Two Guardians were already practicing reps, but it seemed like one of them was having some trouble. HIs finger hovered over the comm-link and he hesitated, remembering to be nice, it was the Corp CEO after all. His Boss assured him that he had the proper training and only lacked some key rigs that weren't to be found. Just then the alarms sounded, local spike and Intel reporting a Neutral Armageddon at the out gate.

At the same time a neutral 'Baddon undocked. He called Primary and opened fire with the lasers. The 'Baddon started melting with the gang pouring it on, but the coward docked up before they could break his tank. Sure enough, these were the guys. They were early today. Now Intel told him 2 Geddons and a Falcon at the Gate with more pouring in to the neighboring system. He still had three pilots in station getting their ships ready and two inexperienced Guardian pilots, one without rigs. Reluctantly he ordered everyone to dock up.

As usual they came, they smacked in the local channel and then left. While the fleet pilots played a game in the station rec room, Rixx jumped into his Pilgrim to make the dangerous three jump journey to get the missing rigs. He was still new to the Pilgrim and unsure of its capabilities, but it warped cloaked and had a decent tank. Certainly much better than the Manticore. The trip to the enemy system was fine, a enemy Rupture at one of the gates was more a joke than anything. He quickly loaded the rigs and undocked. On his way to the safe spot above the gate the enemy started logging in. Again, predictable. Sure enough Intel reported the usual three in the other system. Even without being told he knew what ships were on scan. Didn't they realize what being so predictable meant? Obviously not.

He burned through the first two gates and then held up at the last one. He knew what was coming, sure enough the Falcon and two vagabonds arrived underneath him. They would've landed with him if he hadn't been so smart. Instead he reported them on Intel and his mates sprung into action on the other side. They already had plenty of traps laid out and they warped to range just as the enemy, not yet fully formed up themselves, jumped thru. He waited. He had 30m worth of rigs in his hold, but if his mates needed him, he would jump. He laughed out loud when he saw the gray markings on his HUD, they were running away. He jumped his Pilgrim thru and came up with another idea.

Let's get really nasty, he told his mates. He issued his orders and the fleet quickly re-formed. This time he switched out to his Sleipnir, the Command Ship he had yet to fly into combat. The rest of his fleet was equally as nasty and for good measure Demonic brought his Onyx along. With the ten of them in this configuration, nothing short of a 20 man blob would give them any trouble. Certainly not the predictable tactics of the enemy forces.

They moved fast and they did it without scouts. Rixx preferred this method of traveling in force. If you have confidence in your fleet, bully your way through. It eliminates much of the enemy Intel and keeps local down to zero longer. Best to always mix up your tactics. Everyone on gate, Onyx jumps and if there is anyone on the Gate he bubbles up. Catch 'em with their pants down. The jumps to the enemy system were clear however, so once in system he warped them all to station. The enemy had the numbers in local, but they weren't expecting the fleet that Rixx had brought them. Several ratting Battleships panicked and warped to the station. They almost melted a Tempest before he could dock, the poor bugger probably drooling in his pod.

Rixx could almost feel the scanners getting a good look at his fleet composition. He wanted them to. Take a look at what you are up against now mates. We are almost 100% deployed now and out in force. He ordered the fleet back home, hoping the enemy would be dumb enough to follow.

The rest of the day was a back and forth game of tactics and surprises. It never goes exactly like you planned it, no matter how carefully you do so. A good Commander knows this as well. The battle-field is a fluid, dynamic place. Several other enemy gangs disrupted the plans, one potentially new ally even managed to get his Rapier killed because he showed up at the wrong time. Rixx wasn't happy about how that one came down, his fleet lost a Hurricane in the bargain, but everyone did extremely well. These daily fleet ops, even the boring ones, were having the desired effect. His fellow mates were getting better together every single day.

The enemy fleet finally showed up and they brought the expected blob. Despite wanting more than anything to stay and fight, Rixx ordered his smaller fleet into the POS. HIs original lesson remembered well, live to fight another day on ground of your own choosing.

He found it interesting that the local channel remained so quiet this time. He didn't smile, he knew that now things had moved into an entirely new level. A very serious level.

Seeing as how things have finally settled down since the move to The Syndicate from Impass, I thought it might be time for a new "What's in Your Hanger?" post. I do these every so often because they are fun, plus it is an interesting way to track progress in the game. Since I don't have any ships that I can't fly. Plus I'll share my names for 'em, some are silly, some are thoughtful and some have different meanings.

Every ship in my hanger is fully fitted, with ammo and drones loaded and ready to go at a moments notice.

(In order of Sort By Type)

"Rust Belt" - This is my trusty Jaguar, which I used to kill a few ships last night. It's shield booster fitted.

"Elecktra" - This is a super-secret Drake fit that I've been working on and I can't tell you anything more about it right now.

"Serious Business" - My standard Drake, which has been named Serious Business for two years now.

"Last Race" - My Harbinger, pulse fitted. It's named Last Race because Amarr is the last race I have to train.

"Long Train" - My Hurricane. Named that because it took awhile to train for it.

"MECCA" - My PIlgrim. And you can probably figure this one out yourself.

"Stretch" - My Rapier. Long point?

"Murdock" - My Daredevil, which is still alive since the last post. Obvious comic book reference.

"Giger" - One of my two Dramiels, each fit slightly different. This one is for fleets of 5 or more.

"Ripley" - The other Dramiel, this one fit for fleets of 5 or less. They're both named after the "Alien" influence in their design, H.R. Giger the artist behind the movie's design and the name of the lead character in the films.

"Touch It" - A sniper Eagle, can reach out and touch you for pitiful damage at 200k. I fit it up the other day because I was bored.

"Kanai" - My pulse AHAC Zealot. Kanai is Hebrew for zealot. ( I also keep an unfitted spare, for iskies if needed or another Zealot if I lose this one. Kanai was the Zealot CCP returned to me when the game bug kilt it and I won my petition.)

"gosh" - A stupid Badger MkII I need to help keep the POS Towers fueled.

"G'Damn Basterd" - My Manticore. All my Manti's have the word Basterd in them, because they are and also in memory of an old failed Corp. (I also have a spare Manti, for iskies if needed or backup when this one explodes.)

"Division Bell" - And finally my Tengu. This name also has two meanings, it is in honor of Pink Floyd obviously, but I also thought it extremely appropriate because you can "divide" T3 ships up and change out their parts.

That's my hanger. 33 ships counting EVEOGANDA the Shuttle I keep around. (Yes, all my shuttles are named after the blog, I figure a little advertising while I fly around is ok.)

The Rixx Javix Store

Welcome to EVEOGANDA!

Eve + Propaganda = Eveoganda. Your one-stop Eve Magazine and gateway to the Eve Community, for over seven years Eveoganda has been raising Hell, taking names and openly mocking things that need to be mocked. All in the name of fun, adventure and internet spaceships.

Email me at RixxJavix@gmail.com

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